Structural adjustment: the wrong prescription for Africa?

Abstract

40 Hausen B, Heublein B, Vogelphol J, Von der Leyen H, Haverich A.Comparison of enoximone and piroximone in patients after mitral valve operation: a prospective and controlled study.

Economic and health efficiency of education funding policy

“…PII: S 0 2 7 7 -9 5 3 6 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 8 4 -2 primary level (Psacharopoulos, 1994). The resulting misdirection of resources as a result of Structural Adjustment Programmes has often had signi®cant negative impacts on education and health within the poorer sections of society (Logie and Woodroe, 1993;Nelson, 1994;Wakhweya, 1995;Hsiao and Liu, 1996;United Nations Development Programme, 1996). These negative impacts¯ow directly from conditions imposed by the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.…”

Health for all by the year 2000?

“…In some countries a pregnant woman urgently in need of a lifesaving caesarean section has to buy surgical gloves, suture material, and drugs before a doctor will consider operating. In Zimbabwe the number of hospital visits declined drastically after the introduction of fees for patients 8. There was no evidence that morbidity had decreased or that there was unnecessary consumption of care that could have been avoided.…”

Is aid to developing countries hitting the spot?

“…Yet the 1980s witnessed the biggest failure of development yet as developing countries were thrown into financial crisis through rising interest rates and falling commodity prices. The response--structural adjustment--was expected to improve growth and help poor people, yet evidence that these arrangements make poor people worse off is compelling 3 4. After 15 years' experience with such programmes in sub-Sarahan Africa, little reliable evidence exists that adjustment promotes sustainable economic growth 1 5.…”